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Brielle placed one hand behind her head and stared at the ceiling too. “He doesn’t hate you,” she repeated. “He just doesn’t trust you.”
A snort exploded from Sarah’s chest. “Then he’s a hypocrite.”
“How do you figure?”
She twisted her head around to give Brielle a pointed look. “All he ever preaches is trust and making the animals trust me by having the right body language. But how can I do that? My body language is my body language. I can’t exactly change it.”
Brielle smiled. “Have you considered that he’s like an animal himself? You aren’t giving him much of an opportunity to trust you.”
Sarah stilled. Brielle made a good point. She hadn’t exactly been willing to give him any information about herself. Maybe she needed to tell him something that would make him trust her a little more. “He’s not going to trust me if I tell him who I really am.”
Brielle frowned. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
“Then I’m stuck. He won’t trust me, so he won’t treat me better. And that means I’m never going to get to the point where I can excel here.”
Her friend peeked at her. “Do youwantto excel here?”
“I don’t know. I mean, it would make this summer a lot easier if I did. If I could ride a horse better, maybe I could do other chores that I might actually enjoy. But he’s not teaching me that. Why can’t he just let me take a horse that is already trained?”
Brielle shrugged. “Sometimes Dax sees things we don’t. He’s good at that.” Her voice was soft, almost in awe of the person she described. Did they have a thing going? Sarah hadn’t seen any indication of it. Brielle didn’t talk about Dax in a romantic way.
Then again, Brielle didn’t talk aboutanyonein a romantic way. She only ever referred to men as a way to have fun.
Sarah glanced once more in Brielle’s direction. “Do you like him?”
She stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“The way you’re talking about him, it’s like you have a thing for him.” Sarah turned on her side and rested her head in her hand as she propped up on her elbow. “It’s okay if you do. I won’t judge you based on your poor preference of guys.” Her lips lifted into a small smile. “You can tell me.”
Brielle didn’t move. Her eyes remained locked on the ceiling. There was no teasing in her voice when she finally spoke. “A couple years ago we got pretty close.”
Sarah’s eyes widened and she sat up. “Seriously?”
Brielle gave her a wan smile. “Yeah.”
“What happened?”
Her friend sat up, folded her legs beneath her and met Sarah’s gaze. “It was before Adeline got married. At the time, I thought I wanted a real relationship. And Dax was everything.” Her sad smile tugged at Sarah’s heart. Whatever had happened between the two of them must have been hard.
She waited, expecting to be told that Dax had broken her heart. He would. Dax with the smoldering eyes and the rumbling voice. “What did he do?”
Brielle straightened and let out a laugh. “Nothing.”
“But… you seem so sad. I just thought…”
Brielle reached out and placed her hand on Sarah’s knee. “It was me. Adeline’s husband—Sean—”
Sarah gasped. “You didn’t—”
Brielle laughed again. “Will you let me finish?” She shook her head. “Sean’s dad was killed in an accident on the ranch.”
Confusion swirled within Sarah. She hadn’t been around long, but the other wranglers talked. From what she had gathered, the two families weren’t the closest—even after they were joined by a marriage and a business contract. “Why would Sean’s dad dying affect your relationship with Dax?”
Brielle withdrew her hand and clasped it with the other one in her lap. She stared at them, picking at her cuticles with her thumb. “It’s hard to explain. We weren’t close to them, but it hit me pretty hard. After I’ve reflected on it, I’ve come to the realization it has more to do with my mom.” She lifted her gaze, her eyes shining with moisture. “My dad had to raise us without help. We were really little when my mom passed away. Adeline stepped up, but she was barely a teenager. I guess I got scared. I told Dax I wasn’t ready for anything serious. We were sneaking around as it was, but I wasn’t willing to step out into the light either. I cared about him—I still do. But no, I don’t love him—not enough to put aside those feelings and get married.” She lifted a shoulder and tilted her head as she peered at Sarah. “So for now, we’re just friends.”
There were no words that could make her friend feel better over this. Fears of losing a loved one were incredibly difficult to move past. If that was the root of Brielle’s fear of commitment, it could take years for her to get over it.
Brielle brushed at her cheek with the back of her hand. “This conversation wasn’t supposed to be about me. I came to talk to you about what happened out there.”
